He Knows Their Names!

Rising full moon from July 2011. Taken in late evening from my front yard.

Last night, my beloved and I took a small entourage of our children to a local star gazing party. We waited until it was really dark and laid down on our quilts (we all had to snuggle up to stay warm) and we looked at the stars, galaxies, satellites, airplanes  and assorted cosmic blips while we nibbled on Starbursts and Milky Ways.. It was amazing. The moon was waxing gibbous and too bright for great stargazing, but it in itself was worth studying and pondering. We are starting into the Leonid meteor showers and we saw the beginnings of it at around 11:00. This weekend in the early morning hours the meteors should be plentiful and easy to see.

God's word says that God has a name for every star. One of the guides last night said that just the photos of galaxies taken by the Hubbell telescope would take every astronomer in the world, looking at each photo one second each, something like 10 thousand years to identify them as to type. That does not include time to give them each an individual name. But our God has already named the individual stars IN the  galaxies. Wow! The intellectual power God has is mind boggling.

God spoke these heavenly bodies into being. He placed them in orbits and paths and galaxies. He adjusted their brightness and playfully arranged them into constellations that we cound identify from a blanket on the earth! What seems like such a huge undertaking was simply a spoken direction to the lights in the night. Those lights are a really big deal, representing more catagorizing, counting and naming than all of mankind has ever been able to accomplish since there has been life on the Earth...and yet...it is all an elaborate night light for us. Most people sleep throught 90% of these nocturnal displays. Many of us can only name a few constellations. God knew this would happen, but for the shepherds who watch at night, for the travelers on the underground railroad, for mariners, refugees, and children on their backs in their front yard, he made an extravagant show. Of course, I know that there are many of earth's cycles that are bound to the other heavenly bodies. The tides and circadian rythms that keep our world predictable and understandable are a practical effect of  the interaction of all this real estate in the sky.  What was God thinking to do it in such a beautiful and amazing way?

I am grateful to C for arranging this little gathering and to J for inviting us. I am thankful to God for the show!

Look up!

Lawana